


Under the Sea

by Insertpoetryhere



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adasheith, Gen, I promise, Keith and Adam are mermen and childhood best friends, Multi, Oof this is gonna be messy, Polyamory, Shiro is a prince, its cute, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 05:01:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16010810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insertpoetryhere/pseuds/Insertpoetryhere
Summary: Keith isn’t well suited for life under the sea. Adam is perfectly content with it.But how much of that will change when the two of them save a man from drowning and get their first taste of the human world?





	Under the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Told y’all i was gonna spearhead some rarepairs.

The ocean is huge. Like… really huge. Billions of species and taking up the most space on this entire goddamn planet kind of huge.

So how in the hell did Adam end up stuck with Keith?

Ok… scratch that. Adam technically was here by choice. But what was he supposed to do when Keith announced that he was going to go explore some random ass sunken ship? Let him go alone?

Yeah, not fucking likely.

“Ok, go in, get what you need, and let’s get the hell out of here!” Adam insisted. Keith flicked his tail playfully as he swam ahead, looking back to give Adam a coy smirk.

“What’s the rush?” He asked innocently. Adam narrowed his eyes and sped up, trying to keep up with Keith’s pace.

“We actually have to be somewhere to be in like… a varga!” Adam reminded him. Keith laughed.

“Don’t tell me you actually want to go to that stupid meeting!” Keith rolls his eyes. “It’s boring! They don’t really need us there anyway!”

Adam sighed. Keith did have a point there. He never really understand why the son of the general and a second-tier member of the royal family really had to come along. It made sense for his father to be there, and his sister Allura. It was absolutely essential for Keith’s mom and her next in line, Thace, to be there… Mainly because at least Thace and Allura actually had a shot at inheriting the titles of their superiors.

Ok… That’s not 100% accurate. Technically speaking, Adam and Keith were in the running for the titles of King and General. But only if something were to happen to the other four without proper succession being put in place.

Under normal circumstances, Keith would be next in line for his mother’s position. But, there was one thing in his way… Krolia was one very overprotective mother. When you combine that with the knowledge of her son’s reckless behavior, it’s no surprise that she tried to find a way around this rule. She couldn’t fully take him out of the line, so instead she assigned Thace as her successor. This was usually a form of disownment, but honestly Adam was sure that everyone knew it was done out of love. It was safe to say that the only one who was more scared of Keith going to the front lines than him was Krolia.

Adam’s situation is a little less complex. He just didn’t get lucky in the birth lottery. While Allura was the blood daughter of King Alfor, and therefore his natural heir, Adam was adopted. Since the law recognised him as Alfor’s son, he was still in line… he just came right after Allura. To be honest, Adam wasn’t too disappointed. He used to think it was unfair when he was little, but after growing up and watching Alfor stress every detail, every meeting, every movement he made in the public eye… well, after all that, Adam was completely ok with letting Allura take the job. With her next in line, and in perfect health he would probably be just fine. The job he really wanted was the one that currently belonged to Coran, his father’s right-hand man. Despite how he and his sister often fight with each other, he couldn’t deny that the two of them would make a pretty awesome political unit.

Adam was snapped out of his thoughts by Keith throwing his arm out across his chest, stopping him dead in his tracks. Keith’s eyes grew wide in awe as he looked on at the pile of splintered wood and billowing cloth. Adam had to admit… this one was pretty big.

He didn’t like it.

There were stories about the creatures that piloted these monstrosities, about how they had nets that they would use to catch and tangle sea creatures in mass and sharp hooks to lure them in one by one. They would drag you up out of the water and suffocate you. No one really knew what they did after that. All the sea life that had managed to escape had never let them get them too far onto the island. Merfolk had a bit of advantage, since they would rarely try to catch them if they happened to see them.

Adam had only ever had one encounter with them. When they were 13, the two of them had found a small island in the middle of the ocean. Nothing too big, but big enough for two scrawny young teens to sit along the banks to escape their responsibilities. A human had spotted them from one of these ships and he began to shout some...less savory things in their directions. Adam didn’t fully understand what he meant, but he had a general idea as he tried to coax the two boys on to his ship. Adam could feel that they were in danger and practically dragged Keith back into the ocean. Keith obliged of course, flicking his tail as he dove under the water. While Adam had just been glad that they had gotten away, but Keith just looked up at the surface in awe.

That’s when this stupid obsession started.

Keith wiggled his hips as he squeezed in through a small opening, pulling himself through. He turned his head and looked over to Adam.

“You coming?” He asked, smirking. Adam rolled his eyes and squeezed through the opening as well. Curse Keith’s stupid cute face. 

“Right behind you, asshole.” Adam smiled a small bit, despite his disdain for the current situation. Keith’s smile brightened as he took Adam’s hands and pulled, dislodging his hips from the small hole.

“So…” Adam looked around, rubbing at his sore hips. “What exactly are we looking for?”

Keith glanced around in the dim lighting, peering curiously at anything that happened to catch his eye.

“Not a clue, but we’ll find out!” Keith exclaimed. Before Adam could ask what he meant, Keith’s eyes settled on a slight glimmer that was hidden under a pile of heavy rubble. His eyes widened as he swam over, nearly hitting Adam in the face with the tip of his red tail. He dug through the other items, throwing them off to the side until he pulled out a… wait, what is that?

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Keith whispered, leaning over to show his discovery to Adam. Adam just squinted in confusion.

“What is it?” He asked, leaning forward to examine it closer. The base was wide and golden, slimming out as it went up. From the top, three prongs spread out with small, cup-like tips. But what could they possibly hold? Keith looked just as puzzled as he opened his mouth.

“I don’t really know…” Keith admitted. “But I’m sure it can’t be too hard to figure it out.”

With that, he shoved the object into his bag that he had lung lazily over his shoulder. He looked back up at Adam, face dangerously close.

“How long do we have until we need to get going?” He asked. Adam pursed his lips and flicking his orange tail as he turned to look out of the opening. Ok… so if the sun was over in the east directly over the trench, then they had been gone for almost…

Shit.

Adam grabbed Keith by the hand and dragged him out of the ship, letting out a string of swears. 

“We’re already late!” He exclaimed. He and Keith swam as quickly as their fins could carry them, dodging through fields of tall seaweed and schools of fish.

“Our parents are gonna kill us! ‘ Keith muttered, tightening his hold on Adam’s hand as they swam. They were at the back entrance to the meeting hall, attempting to catch their breath before entering.

“It’s fine!” Adam insisted, smoothing out his hair with one hand as he tried to calm down. “We’ll sneak in and take our seats. No one will even notice us coming in!”

As if in an attempt to crush all of Adam and Keith’s hopes in one simple swoop, the doors to the conference hall swung open without warning. Every head in the room turned to the back door, where the two stood sheepishly. Two sets of eyes bore into their souls with a bit more vigor on each end on the long table. Their two seats (right beside Allura and Thace, respectively) were very noticeably empty. Krolia and Alfor gave their sons a collective look that very clearly said “sit down”. 

The both obliged, making their way to their seats swiftly and silently.

“Next time, plan your romantic rendezvous at a time that’s a bit more convenient for everyone else.” Allura whispered once Adam had taken his seat next to her. “Doesn’t do anyone any good to have to wait for you two to stop making out to start official meetings.”

“For god’s sake Allura, it wasn’t romantic! We’re just friends!” Adam rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Allura smirked and flicked her pink tail at him playfully.

“Oh, I’m sure.” She laughed. Adam started to turn red. Ok yes, there were some feelings. They’ve been there since the two of them were 12. But at the same time, Keith was his best and only friend (If you didn’t count Allura… which he didn’t. She was his sister, she kinda had to like him a little). He doubted the feelings would last long.

The meeting went as slowly as they always did, with Krolia, Alfor, and Slav talking back and forth about the issues plaguing the nation while Adam and Allura played Tic-Tac-Toe secretly under the table. Occasionally Adam would make eye contact with Keith from the other side of the room and the two would exchange smiles.

As the meeting drew to a close, the attendants began to file out of the hall. Adam caught up with Keith, but before they two could sneak out without drawing any attention to themselves they were stopped.

“You two stay.” Krolia’s voice commanded. Adam and Keith froze in their spots.

Allura gave them a sympathetic smile as she swam out, the doors closing behind her. Adam and Keith turned around slowly, now facing Alfor and Krolia. Alfor went to open his mouth, but Keith beat him to it.

“W-we got attacked by a shark!” He blurted out. Adam’s eyes widened and he looked over to Keith in wild confusion.

Keith gave him a look that said ‘just fucking go with it’.

“... A shark?” Alfor asked, skeptically. He looked directly at Adam, waiting for confirmation.

“Yeah… yeah, a really big shark!” He said with conviction. “... with teeth.”

Krolia raised an eyebrow and Adam gulped. He would never admit it, but she scared him. She scared him a lot.

“... We barely made it out with our lives.” Keith added. Alfor looked like he wanted to call them out for their obvious lie, but instead he opted to putting his hand up to his head and slowly rubbing his temples.

“Coran!” He called. The red head royal advisor turned around from where he stood at the door (which he had been trying and failing to open) and swam over.

“Yes?” He stood up straight, but his shoulders slumped when he saw the two boys standing directly in front of him. It wasn’t really a secret that Coran wasn’t much of a fan of having to babysit the two of them.

“Escort them home, please.” Alfor requested politely.

“We’ll discuss this later.” Krolia added. Even though the comment was directed towards Keith, Adam still couldn’t help but shudder.

The two followed Coran out of the main entrance, listening as he began to prattle on and on about his childhood.

“I wouldn’t worry about your parents too much,” Coran’s voice was chipper, despite the fact that he was once again stuck on daycare duty (Adam had the sneaking suspicion that he had actually grown fond of the two of them… though he probably wouldn’t admit that either). “When I was a boy, my father had once told me to meet him at the…”

Adam nodded politely, though not listening. Keith just kept his head down. He really didn’t like disappointing his mom… something he thought was a little pathetic, but Adam thought was sweet. 

Adam reached over to him, patting his arm reassuringly. Keith smiled, but a loud sound distracted the both of them, causing the two to stop dead in their tracks.

BAM!

Adam was praying to whatever higher power that might listen that Keith would just keep swimming and ignore it. That he’d just follow Coran back home, and the two of them would just suck it up and take the consequences.

But this was Keith. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen.

A wide smile spread across his face and before Adam could even protest, Keith had already darted off into the deep ocean. Adam turned to Coran, who was still lost in his story. Adam sighed. If he hurried, he could probably grab Keith and be back before Coran even noticed they were gone.

He rocketed after Keith, swimming as quickly as he could in an attempt to catch up. This was proving to be pretty difficult, since Adam’s fastest speed was probably only about ¾ of Keith’s. He was only able to catch up once Keith finally came to a stop.

“Keith, what the hell?” Adam exclaimed, out of breath. Keith didn’t even acknowledge him as he stared up at the surface, transfixed. Adam followed his gaze, looking up towards what appeared to be the bottom of a human ship.

But there was something very wrong.

There was a bright, orange light that seemed to be engulfing the sides of the ship, eating up the material it was made out of. The ship was lurching back and forth in the dark water, and the people on board were screaming. This didn’t seem right.

“Keith… We should go.” Adam took his friend’s hand and tried to lead him away, but Keith just stayed where he was, face illuminated by the furious orange glow that broke through the dark water.

“It looks so cool…” Keith muttered. Adam scrunched his eyebrows.

“No, it looks dangerous! Let’s go!” Adam gave Keith’s arm another tug, this time managing to pull his attention back to the real world.

“It’s ok, Adam.” He smiled. “The orange stuff isn’t even trying to come into the water… I don’t think it’s allowed to.”

Adam narrowed his eyes in confusion. What could possibly be that powerful, and yet not be able to come in the water?

“C’mon, let’s just-” Adam began, but was interrupted as something fell from the ship above and landed directly between the two of them, facing Keith.

Wait, no. Not something…

Someone.

Right there, directly in front of the two, was a real life human.

Adam looked up at Keith in panic, but felt a different feeling well up when he saw the look of admiration that Keith had as he stared at the man in front of them.

“Keith!” Adam hissed desperately. “Leave him, Let’s go!”

But Keith didn’t listen. Instead, he leaned forward and inspected the man further.

Adam really didn’t like that.

“Keith!” He yelled, but immediately regretted when he saw the man shift. Keith jumped back, eyes widening as the man woke up.

At first, he just seemed confused as he slowly opened his eyes.. But once he saw Keith, his confusion seemed to shift to absolute terror as he started to flail around wildly. He looked around wildly, as if he was trying to figure out how he had gotten down here.

Adam panicked, darting around the man and planting himself firmly in between him and Keith. He didn’t look like he had anything he could use to hurt him, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

The man freaked out even more after seeing Adam, making him start to think that jumping out in front of him without warning was a bad idea.

“What do we do?” Keith asked, panicked. Adam pondered for a second, starting to lose ability to function as Keith pressed against his back (Not a good time for the teenage hormones to kick in). 

“Um...can I see the thing we found in the ship earlier?” Adam asked, reaching towards Keith frantically. The man’s eyes almost popped out of his head as Adam held up the strange metal object (Aha! So it was a weapon!). 

“What are you going to do with it?” Keith asked. Before Adam could answer, a wave pushed the man forward. Adam panicked, bringing his arm back and swinging it forward. He hit him directly in the temple, also somehow managing to cut the bridge of his nose. 

The man’s eyes rolled back as he began to sink deeper into the water. He didn’t get too far before Keith dove out from behind Adam and caught him, dragging him up as his cut began to bleed.

“Adam!” Keith yelled, bow just as panicked as his friend.

“I’m sorry, I panicked!” Adam defended, hands shaking. “Holy shit, is he dead?”

Keith looked down and shook his head. “No… no I think he’s just knocked out.”

Adam put his hand up to his temple. Oh my god he just knocked out a human.

“What do we do now?” Adam asked, hands shaking.

“Why are you asking me? You’re the smart one!” Keith yelled back, adjusting the man in his arms. Adam stuttered a little.

“Not when it comes to this!” He yelled back. 

“Neither am I!” Keith looked down, and his facial expression shift. “Wait a second…”

“Wait what?” Adam asked, nervous. “What are we waiting for?”

“He’s turning purple… Kinda like my mom. Do you think he’s getting used to the water?” Keith asked, holding the man up for Adam to see. Adam looked closely. He was indeed turning purple… but something about this seemed off…

Oh shit!

“Keith I don’t think he can breathe!” Adam nearly screamed. Keith started to freak out again.

“What do I do? What do I do?” Keith chanted, looking at Adam frantically.

“Fucking swim him up! Swim him up now!” Adam really didn’t want to be responsible for killing this guy. Like… really really didn’t want to be responsible for someone dying.

Keith sprung up and swam towards the surface, with Adam not too far behind.

As they broke through the surface, Keith suddenly realized exactly how heavy this man was.

“Adam!” He called, struggling to keep him above water. Adam rushed over and tried to help, but he wasn’t too much better than Keith was. He spotted a large piece of the ship that had broken off and led Keith over to it, dumping the man onto it and hoping to god that it would still float.

“What do we do now?” Keith asked, panting, but seeming much calmer than he was before. Adam looked around, noticing that there were a lot of smaller ships that were full of people heading west. Adam furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why are they going that way?” He wondered out loud. “There’s no land for miles in that direction.”

Keith turned, facing southeast and pondered. “Isn’t there an island down there? Like, one that’s full of other humans?”

Adam looked at his friend in pure disbelief. “Are you suggesting we swim right up to a human island? With absolutely nothing to protect us!”

Keith shrugged. “We have him. They might not hurt us if we have one of them.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure that will go great.” Adam said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “‘Hey, we found this guy and knocked him out with something we stole from one of your ships! Here he is, please don’t kill us!’”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “We didn’t hit him, you did!”

“Your weird metal thing, your responsibility!” Adam pointed out. Keith grumbled, unable to argue with that.

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Keith snapped. Adam scowled. No.. no he did not. Keith sighed, gesturing towards the other side of their little makeshift raft. “Then let’s get going… it’s a long swim.”

A long swim is the distance between Keith’s house and the seaweed gardens. A long swim could even be considered as the distance between the meeting hall and Adam’s house.

This was an excruciatingly long swim. The fact that they were pushing a heavy object with an equally heavy man laying on top of it didn’t help too much.

By the time they actually reached the shore and pushed him onto the sand, Adam was ready for a nap.

“Alright,” He sighed, feeling immediate relief in his upper arms. “He’s fine. Let’s go.”

Keith wasn’t listening (of course) as he stared dreamily at the island, eyes tracing over the rolling hills and shining when he saw the wildlife.

“I want to live here…” Keith muttered, leaning against a rock as he stared lovingly at the island in the moonlight. Adam wasn’t in the mood to remind him that he physically couldn’t like there… it actually kinda made him sad too. The island really was beautiful…

“C’mon. Let’s go.” Adam gently pulled Keith back underwater as the man on the beach stirred. He’d hoped that tonight would just be a distant memory, something they never talked about again…

But then again, this was Keith he was talking about.


End file.
